The Thirteenth Doctor Talks to Plants in 'The Secret in Vault 13'

Doctor Who: The Secret in Vault 13
written by David Solomons
audiobook narrated by Sophie Aldred
published by BBC Children’s Books (Penguin) (2018)

“Meddling’s kind of my thing.” –The Doctor

What’s not to love about a book that begins with the chapter title “Diddly-dum Diddly-dum Woo-woo”? Nothing, that’s what.

Say hello to the Thirteenth Doctor. Played on TV by Jodie Whittaker, The Secret in Vault 13 is this incarnation of The Doctor’s debut on the printed page. And – spoilers! – it’s quite good fun.

What a lot of people don’t realize (or forget) is that Doctor Who began as a children’s program, and the scripts intentionally tried to teach kids about science and history. The Doctor and his companions would be cruising through space and time, battling aliens on far-flung planets – and then suddenly they’d essentially present a chemistry (or biology, or astronomy, or ancient history) lesson to the audience.

That said, I’m struck by how much this book is in line with some of those original, classic episodes. The Secret in Vault 13 features the Doctor’s current incarnation and feels both steeped in 21st century sensibilities and built on 55 years of stories and characters. Nevertheless, it still evokes those simpler stories of the first few Doctors. It not only is aimed squarely at a young audience but also blends in real-world science facts – much more naturally than the old black-and-white serials from the 60s, I should point out.

There are three universal constants. Plank’s quantum of action, toast always falling butter-side-down, and the reaction of anyone entering the TARDIS for the first time.

The galaxy is in terrible danger, and only a Time Lord can save it. If you’re a regular Doctor Who viewer, this all sounds very familiar. However, it’s not the Daleks or Cybermen who are up to no good this time. Oh no. This time, it’s a matter of botany.

Yup, in order to save the galaxy, The Doctor must break into the ancient Galactic Seed Vault. Hm? What’s that? Well, it’s basically the galactic equivalent of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which is a very real thing located on the Norwegian island of Svalbard nearish to the North Pole.

And at the heart of the seed vault lies a secret – the mysterious Vault 13, which has remained unopened for millions of years and is located on a remote and frozen world. Inside? Inside is a MLITMOT: a mystery lost in the mists of time.

So, obviously, The Doctor needs to crack open Vault 13 and get inside. Except the vault’s three keys are spread over space and time.

Adventures await!

“You don’t buy a TARDIS.”
“So it’s leased?”
“A TARDIS is earned rather than paid for. . . . I, uh, borrowed this one.”

Fittingly, The Secret in Vault 13 features the Thirteenth Doctor, along with companions Yaz, Ryan, and Graham. Since the book is aimed at young readers who may or may not know who The Doctor is, it does a pretty good job of naturally interweaving Doctor Who 101 with the story at hand. Readers get a crash course in regeneration, her place in the timeline, and why the TARDIS looks like a police box (among other franchise basics).

Also, since the book is intended for a younger audience, the story is a bit more “age appropriate” than some of the recent and current TV episodes. There are still dangers and compelling stakes, but the story lacks some of the horror or social commentary (or horrific social commentary) of the series.

Indeed, the book is rife with kid-friendly humor and features giant rabbits, huge telepathic bugs, killer plants, and other things that generally rank pretty high on any kid’s cool meter. This is not a strike against the book; quite the opposite, actually. As I said, Doctor Who was originally meant to be a children’s program, and it’s great to see the character embrace those roots.

The Doctor may have been over 2,000 years old, but she had the impulse control of a teenager with a first credit card.

I listened to the audiobook version of this story, which has the added benefit of being narrated by Sophie Aldred. Doctor Who fans know Aldred as Ace, companion to the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and the last steady companion until the franchise fizzled out in 1989.

All told, The Secret in Vault 13 feels like an incredibly fun episode, which is meant to be high praise. It doesn’t “dumb down” the science, science fiction, or franchise for young readers.

I’d love to see more books like these featuring ALL of the Doctors. They can be a fantastic entry point to an incredibly huge – but rewarding – franchise for kids.